In 1913 she married Philip Mairet, the former draughtsman to C.R. Ashbee and secretary to A.K. Coomaraswamy, and by 1915 they were living in Shottery, Stratford-upon-Avon where they rented 'TheThatched House'. Ethel Mairet, now much concerned with dyeing, exhibited her vibrant cloth for the first time at the Englishwoman Exhibition, London and in 1916 published A Book on Vegetable Dyes.

Following a visit to Eric Gill and members of the Guild of Joseph and St Dominic in Ditchling, Sussex the Mairets decided to settle there. 'Gospels', effectively Mairet's purpose-built workshop, was only partly constructed when, in 1918, she moved in her looms and assistants Elizabeth Peacock and Maud Partidge (sister). She began taking apprentices and employing assistants in 1920. Philip Mairet, meanwhile, opened and ran the New Handworker's Gallery in London.